The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-29
THE ACADIANS.
A PICTURESQUE PEOPLE UN-
CHANGED BY TIME.
Their Home in a-How
They Live - Daily Occupation
Love-Making and Feasting-
Grandmothers at Thirty.

DdCh lTOul tilae SiSoe hiSh""y'
Mississippi, there are innumerab!e smaller
streams, called bayous in this section,
which fertilize an immense expanse OF
prairie in Western Louisiana. 1t is
land beloved of artist and poet; 1t is the
country of Longfellow's ''Evangeline."
Among the numerous water courses
where steamboats, are never seen, where
railroads are unknown, the eXlled Aca-
dians are found in all their primitive
simplicity, retaining almost unchanged
the language, manners, customs ana su.
perstitions of the French peasants OF
nearly two centuries ago. These peculiar
people were originally colonists from Nor
mandy, who settled in Nova Scotia, but
were driven thence, as everyone knows,
by the persecution of the English.
Not for long, however, were they
doomed to wretcheduess and poverty, for
in 1855 these exiles found their way to
Louisiana, where they made fortunate
exchange in the sunny cline and fertile
plains they peopled for the bleak land
thew had left behind them. A souvenir
of their former home, the province OF
Acadie, has clung to them in their name,
although they do not call themselves
Acadians, but "Creoles Francois"
The Americans, and even the Creoles,
have corrupted the name Acadian into
"Cajun, y which terms these people resent
strongly, yet, as "Cajuns," they are
known all over the State. They are, in
fact. Creoles, being the descendants OF
French parents born in French colony,
but they are an entirely distinct people
from all other populations OF Gallo
descent in Louisiana.
They still retain marked characteristics
of their Norman origin, as unlike the
French people of more southern provinces
as if they were indeed of separate race.
Those Acadians who were of an upper
class have long been amalgamated through
intermarriage or association with other
Creoles of the State: but the great body
of these people have kept to themselves,
and are now, as we said before, as prlml-
tive in their ideas and customs as when
they first set foot in the New World, al
though many traits of the Norman peas
antry, which they still possess, have been
modified by climate and circumstances.
They have remained purely French and
without Spanish admixture, as is the case
with other Oreoles. They are an inde-
pendent, hardy, athletic race, entirely
content with their own lot in life, being
sufficient unto themselves and having
little interest in the outside world. Their
tastes are simple and nearly all their
wants are supplied from their own in
dustries. They are chiefly an agricul-
tural and stock raising population. and
for this reason the families though each
from its own large proportions is little
COLONY in itself-do not live very near
together, but are scattered broadcast
over the bosom of the prairies. 1t has
been questioned whether these people
would have retained their peculiar char
acteristics for such length of time if
they had clustered in larger communities.
The French patois they speak, and
which they believe to be purest Partisan
French, is unlike any other Creole patois
in Louisiana and is wholly unmixed with
negro dialect; for the Acadians were
never slave owners. They have ever
been prolific race; but this circumstance
does not, as in other peoples, force the
young birds to leave the parent nest
when old enough to seek their own live
ihood. On the contrary, the Acadians
are prepared to make any sacrifice in
order to keep their children near them;
the paternal acres are divided and sub
divided into smaller farms, and every
child and grandchild receives a share as
soon as he has reached the age to settle
= 60
The young people are also encouraged
to marry early, that closer home-ties may
bind them more strongly to their native
locality. Marriage is in as high esteem
with them as it was with their ancestors
in the days of the Roman Republic, and
old bachelors are as freely held up to
ridicule and contempt.
Their houses are all modelled after the
same plan, substantial and comfortable,
but plain cottage, built of cypress, with
thick plastered walls, large or small, ac-
cording to the necessities of its occupants,
and with broad porch or galerie in front.
Along the course of the Bayou Teche,
"where it flows through the green Ope-
lousas" and the Bayou Tigre, many of
the Acadian homes are seen, each en-
powered in a clustering grove of live
oak or China trees. This portion of the
State is generally spoken of in Louisiana
as the "Teche country and it is little
curious to learn that the word ''Teche"
is Creole corruption of Deutsch from
German colony which once settled on its
banks.
The wide stretch of the prairies affords
ample room for the large herds of cattle
owned by many of the Acadians, the care
of which is intrusted to the vigorous,
active young men of the community.
AS rule the herdsmen are tall, hand
some men, Injured to hardshiPs Of expos
ure, fatigue and weather, fearless and
skillful riders, like the Texas cowboys,
yet differing from these last-named gen
try in many respects. In the first place
they speak different language from the
COWBOYS, for few of them even under
stand English; also they possess the in
born courtesy of the Latin race, and, more
than this, they feel the restraining intlu
ence of family and home. Mounted on
their tough little Creole ponies they sweep
across the marshes which would be i'm
passable to any less daring rider or less
auick-footed horse. These plucky little
ponies deserve more than such brief men,
tion, for they are never weary, are active
as kittens, as fleet as gazelles and swim the
numerous bayous that intersect the prai-
ries in manner that would not disgrace
q native duck They also DerfOrm a not